Kilpatrick - Worst Mayor!

Time Magazine has recently designated Kwami Kilpatrick, Detroit's Mayor, as one of the worst mayors in the country.

Kilpatrick was on the fast track. Young and hip-hop, family in politics, brash and arrogant, articulate and really, really full of himself. Mayor to Governor to Senator to President?

All Kwami had to do was handle this mayor gig and solidify his reputation as a can-do politician. Well, he blew it.

He appointed his cronies from the hood to important positions and was surprised when they turned out to be real hoods and quite incompetent.

He surrounded himself with an elaborate security force and fired anyone that suggested after hours improprieties.

He purchased a luxury vehicle for his wife with city money but denied it until he could not deny it any more. This at the time the city is laying people off because of lack of funds.

Our daily newspapers document the millions of dollars lost by the city because of plain ole' incompetence; forgetting to file something on time, forgetting to spend allocated money on time, etc.

The big picture reveals a city in shambles, no one really in charge and no real future. Another election will bring in new faces but will that save the city? I don't think so. The bureaucracy that has been embedded in the city since Coleman Young's days will not leave and politicians do not have any political balls to throw them out.

No, Detroit needs a dictator or at least be placed into receivership under the guidance of a professional.

This professional would outsource all city work to private contractors. All administrative posts would be filled by competent professionals not political cronies.

The City Council would be dissolved. A new advisory City Council would be elected on a "ward system" basis and not "at-large". It would not have any powers accept advisory. It would have a bare-bones budget.

The city budget would be balanced and remain so as a legal requirement.

In time, city dwellers would reap the rewards of such a drastic move; they would actually have dependable services and lower taxes.

In time, an elected official could be re-introduced into city government but with restrictions - you do not want to go back to the ole' days again.

Is this scenario realistic? NO. Our Governor doers not have the political balls to place the city into recievership even if it is the right thing to do and for the benefit of the people. Detroiters would call this a racist move trying to deprive them of their freedoms. So there is no hope?
Probably.

I was raised in Detroit and still say I am from Detroit when I travel BUT I am disgusted with the city and more and more look on it as a joke. If the citizens re-elect Kilpatrick, the joke gets sicker.

Janusz